Osteopaths win cherished place as accepted alternative therapy

OSTEOPATHY will tomorrow become the first complementary medicine to require its practitioners to register by law, confirming its place as one of the most accepted alternative therapies.

In the latest implementation of the 1993 Osteopaths Act, the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) will open its register for the 3,000 osteopaths around the country.

Osteopathy focuses on the bones, joints, muscles and ligaments and practitioners use their hands to discover underlying causes of pain and then treat them through touch and manipulation.

Until now the law allowed anyone to call themselves an osteopath and set up in practice.

Now osteopaths will have a two year period in which to apply and satisfy the register that they are safe and competent practitioners otherwise it will be illegal to practice.

"The opening of the register is a great day for patients and osteopathy," said Simon Fielding chairman of the GOsC.

"It is a moment for which the profession has striven for almost seventy years. It will turn a dream into reality."